Banner Health, the 24-hospital, Phoenix-based system that recently completed its acquisition of the University of Arizona Health Network, reported a higher operating surplus for 2014 as its payer mix improved and revenue grew 5.9%.

Four-hospital St. Alphonsus Health System plans to convert an acute-care hospital in Nampa, Idaho, to an ambulatory center and spend $80 million to build a hospital at its other campus in the southern Idaho city.

Los Angeles County voted last week to further consider the integration of its public-health and mental-health agencies with its Department of Health Services, which runs the county's hospitals and clinics.

Oregon's 380,000 new Medicaid enrollees are younger and healthier than anticipated, so the influx into the state's coordinated-care system did not negatively affect its ability to meet targeted savings of $11 billion over 10 years, the state reported.

The University of California medical centers, which include the state's five public teaching hospitals, more than doubled their combined operating surplus on higher patient volume and payment rates in their fiscal 2014.

Sutter Health, a 24-hospital system based in Sacramento, Calif., has continued to improve its operating performance through the first nine months of the year, cutting expenses to overcome flat revenue growth.

In what officials say is likely Washington state's first-ever merger of two public hospitals, Kirkland-based EvergreenHealth and Valley General Hospital, Monroe, have completed a merger they began working on in 2012.

Kaiser Permanente is moving into the retail clinic business, teaming up with big-box retailer Target Corp. to open four store-based locations in California that will use telemedicine to go beyond traditional in-store clinic services.

Rising expenses led to a 19% drop in the operating surplus of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles during its recently concluded fiscal 2014, as the center saw more outpatient care amid declining inpatient stays.